Saturday, 25 April 2015

In general, FGM in Asia and
the Middle East is practiced for religious
beliefs. The majority of FGM support comes from Muslim communities.
Laws banning the practice have often not been successful in eliminating
it and most countries have not outlawed FGM.

FGM has been found in
the following countries, though statistics are not always readily available:

Saturday, 18 April 2015

For the longest
time female circumcision was considered an ‘’African problem“, the practice was
seen as rooted in African pre-Islamic, pre-Christian culture. For Yemen, the only
non-African country where it was long known to exist, it was assumed to be imported
from the African continent.

Newer evidence
shows that these assumptions can’t be correct, neither geographically nor does
the explanation suffice. The narrative already took a severe blow when it
surfaced that FGM is prevalent in parts of the Kurdish region of North Iraq. Surveys in this region and lobby work in fact
led to the inclusion of Iraq
in those 29 countries UNICEF now considers to be those where the practice is
concentrated.

By now it is
evident that FGM is practiced in many more Asian countries. Small-scale surveys
show its existence in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait
and the United Arab Emirates.
In Oman and Pakistan media
reports have tackled the issue. A broad discussion about bans and restrictions
has been taken place in Indonesian media for years.

Religion or Culture

Female Genital
Mutilation occurs in non-Muslim societies in Africa
and is practiced by Christians, Muslims and Animists alike. In Egypt, where
perhaps 97 percent of girls suffer genital mutilation, both Christian Copts and
Muslims are complicit. Thus, it has long been concluded to be a cultural
practice, not connected to religion.

However, on the
village level, those who commit the practice offer a mix of cultural and
religious reasons for the practice. Christians and Muslims alike believe that
circumcision of girls prevents them from vice and makes them more attractive
for future husbands; mothers fear that their daughters can’t get married if
they have not been cut.

Sometimes myths
have formed to justify FGM. Hanny Lightfoot-Klein, an expert on FGM who spent
years in Kenya, Egypt, and Sudan,
explains that “it is believed in the Sudan that the clitoris will grow
to the length of a goose’s neck until it dangles between the legs, in rivalry
with the male’s penis, if it is not cut.”

However, Muslim
proponents of FGM also stress the religious necessity. Midwifes and mothers
insist that it is “sunnah” – an opinion shared by most Islamic clerics. Yet,
sunnah can either mean that a practice is religiously recommended or simply
that it was done that way in the times of the prophet Mohammed.

While there is no
mention of FGM in the Quran, a Hadith (saying about the life of the prophet)
recounts a debate between Muhammed and Um Habibah (or Um ‘Atiyyah). This woman,
known as an exciser of female slaves, was one of a group of women who had
immigrated with Muhammed. Having seen her, Muhammad asked her if she kept
practicing her profession. She answered affirmatively, adding: “unless it is
forbidden, and you order me to stop doing it.” Muhammed replied: “Yes, it is
allowed. Come closer so I can teach you: if you cut, do not overdo it, because
it brings more radiance to the face, and it is more pleasant for the husband.”

Most clerics use
this hadith to say circumcision is recommended, but not obligatory for women.
But some say it is obligatory. While others who take a position against FGM
call this hadith weak in relation to the “do no harm” principle of Islam or
interpret the intention of the prophet differently.

Saturday, 11 April 2015

Female
genital mutilation is the collective name given to several different
traditional practices that involve the cutting of female genitals. It is
important to remember that this procedure is commonly performed on girls
anywhere between the ages of four and twelve years of age and in some cultures
as early as a few days after birth and as late as just after prior to marriage
or after the pregnancy.

Girls
may be circumcised alone or with a group of peers from their community.

Although
traditionally performed by traditional practitioners, more recently in some
countries it is also performed by trained personnel.

Indigenous
populations use a variety of terms in local dialects to describe this practice.
These are often synonymous with purification or cleansing, such as the terms
tahara in Egypt, tahur in Sudan and bolokoli in Mali. Local terminology for types
of FGM also varies widely among countries.

In
literature from Sudan,
for example, clitoridectomy is referred to as sunna, and infibulations is
referred to as pharaonic.

In literature
associated with French speaking Africa, FGM is
commonly known as excision.

Lately
the term female genital mutilation has been widely used. Although the term
female genital mutilation has been effective, organisations and individuals
like me working with FGM practising communities that this term can be offensive
or even shocking to women who have never considered the practice as mutilation.

The
term female circumcision may seem to imply an analogy with male circumcision.
Although both practices are a violation of a child’s rights to physical integrity,
these two practices are different. Male circumcision is the cutting off of the
foreskin from the tip of the penis without damaging the organ itself. The
degree of cutting in female circumcision is anatomically much more extensive.
The male equivalent of clitoridectomy, in which all or part of the clitoris is removed,
would be the amputation of most of the penis.

The
male equivalent of infibulations- which involves not only clitoridectomy, but
the removal or closing off of the sensitive tissue around the vagina-would be
removal of the entire penis, its roots of soft tissue and part of the scrotal
skin.

Saturday, 4 April 2015

Women
can not abandon the practice of FGM until they have the information, material
conditions and skills to access different options. In countries in which FGM is
a pre requisite for marriage, women and girls whose economic security depends
upon their ability to be married have little choice. Here is some advice from
The Exquisite Lady,

Governments should
reform policies that prevent women from raising their economic, social and
political status, including ensuring that both men and women have the
right to work and the right to equal pay for equal work.

Governments also
have a responsibility and obligation to support women and encourage their
participation in all aspects of community life. In addition women should
be allowed to participate in public office and decision making.

For immigrants from
FGM practising communities, social compulsion may be compounded by
feelings of alienation, which makes immigrants reliant upon their families
or communities. Although not true in all cases, these forces may make
immigrants hesitant or unwilling to abandon practices from their home
culture that distance them from the host culture. In the example of FGM,
women can preserve traditions at the expense of their bodies while other
elements of community life change,

As in their home
countries, immigrant women must have equal access to the systems of power
so they can exert equal control over community values and cultural
changes. Receiving governments should support programmes that offer
immigrant women instruction in the language of the majority, job training
and information regarding avenues for legal protection.

Governments should
also ensure adequate financial and social support network is available for
immigrant women who sometimes must abandon their primary source of
economic security – their families or their husbands – to exercise their
right to make decisions about their bodies.

Quotes

Married to a Devil

About Me

Welcome to my blog!
I hope you find it interesting. If there is nothing of interest today,please keep on checking. You may never know what tomorrow has.
I write about issues that affect women mostly in the underdeveloped parts of the world. My first book is called 'Married to a Devil'.
Don't get me wrong,I also write about men.
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